IRVINE – In the six months Beck Wehrle has been a student at UC Irvine, he's racked up nearly $50,000 in medical bills.

He was treated four times for strep throat in the fall, and then on Christmas Day, underwent emergency surgery for appendicitis at a cost of $41,000.

"I've been really unlucky lately; it feels like pretty much every weekend, I've been sick," said Wehrle, 26, a Ph.D. candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology. "I hope I'll be healthier, not just for the sake of, it's nice to be healthy, but because of the lifetime limit."

Wehrle, who is insured through the University of California's student health insurance plan, is one of a growing number of UC system students concerned about the student plan's $400,000 lifetime cap on medical care – and the financial devastation it might bring to students who exceed that limit.

At a campus rally Tuesday morning, about 25 UC Irvine students and staff members demonstrated outside the Aldrich Hall central administration building to bring awareness to what they said was a dangerous and unacceptable provision of the UC Student Health Insurance Plan.

UC's student plan, which includes medical, dental and vision care, insures about 60 percent of UCI undergraduate students and about 80 percent of graduate students, UCI says.

"We're basically trapped in this plan, trapped under caps to lifesaving care," UCI student Jessica Conte, 29, a Ph.D. candidate in East Asian languages and literature, said into a bullhorn at the rally outside the Aldrich Hall central administration building.

Although President Barack Obama's health care law was intended to curb an insurer's ability to cap payouts on medical treatments, the 10-campus UC system can keep its lifetime cap through a loophole – and it intends to do so, at least for the time being.

"The students would like us to remove them, and we're looking into the possibility of doing that, but the premiums would go up," UC spokeswoman Brooke Converse said.

Five students across the UC system exceeded their lifetime caps in 2011-12, Converse said.

Most UC campuses have the $400,000 lifetime cap, although UCLA's is $600,000 and San Diego's is $750,000.

SELF-FUNDED LOOPHOLE

The UC system is one of an estimated 30 U.S. college institutions that self-fund their student insurance plans, meaning the university takes on the financial risk of medical claims.

Self-funded plans tend to be cheaper because they cut out the insurance company and can be better customized to meet specific needs, experts say.

But federal health officials have indicated they don't believe the government has the authority to impose on self-funded student plans a "minimum essential standard" of care, which is what the federal Affordable Care Act requires of other types of insurance plans.

In January, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed all self-funded student plans automatically qualify as meeting minimum federal coverage requirements, which would effective allow the plans to retain their caps on health care payouts.

If the federal government were to mandate that self-funded plans remove their caps, the UC system would immediately comply, Converse said. But a voluntary decision to remove the cap will require more deliberation, she added.

"Until we make a decision, we need to keep an affordable level for all students," Converse said.

Graduate student Eumah Cho protests with about 15 others against provisions of the UC Irvine student health plan. PAUL BERSEBACH, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Graduate student Jessica Conte rallies protesters at a protest of provisions of the UC Irvine student health plan. PAUL BERSEBACH, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Protesters march to the student union during a rally at UC Irvine over student health care. PAUL BERSEBACH, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Students Samantha Whittaker and Nicole Krahn, from left, watch as protesters march to the UC Irvine student union during a rally over the student health plan. PAUL BERSEBACH, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Graduate student Jamie Rogers talks about a possible increase in students health premiums before a protest at the University of California, Irvine, on Tuesday. PAUL BERSEBACH, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
A message reads "No Caps on Lifesaving Care!" in front of Aldrich Hall on the campus of the University of California, Irvine, on Tuesday. PAUL BERSEBACH, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Protesters gather at Aldrich Hall at UC Irvine on Tuesday to rally about student health care. PAUL BERSEBACH, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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